After Reducing the Value of the Star Wars IP Somewhat Lower Than the Value of the Stretch Armstrong IP, Kaffeine Kennedy Might Finally Be Fired?

Well, they say she might "retire." But she has reportedly refused to retire previously because she was determined to only go out after a big success, and she's a horrible ditzy incompetent, so that's just never going to happen.

I don't think it matters any longer. Not to be like the millionth person to say this, but Star Wars is dead. Even people like me who used to talk about Star Wars being dead don't talk about it any longer, because there is no point telling people that a corpse that has been dead for so long that it doesn't even stink any longer is dead.

Everyone knows.

But... Doomcock was right? Eventually?

Puck's Matthew Belloni reports today (paywall, sorry) that 2026 will finally be Kennedy's last as president of Lucasfilm. "In the next week or two, Disney will finally confirm what we've all known for months: Kathleen Kennedy is indeed stepping down as Lucasfilm president, and Dave Filoni, currently the chief creative officer of the Star Wars unit, will be elevated into the top job."

He's a ball-less wonder who is as woke as she is and almost as untalented. If you think he's going to be a game-changer, he gave us Ashoka.

God bless you!

Dave Filoni looks at Rion Johnson and shivers at how toxically masculine Rion Johnson is.

Ten years ago, I would have jumped up and down at the news that Filoni was taking over, but after squandering The Mandalorian and completely wasting Rosario Dawson in whatever the hell Ahsoka was supposed to be, these days I'm less excited.

But back to Kennedy.

She took over Lucasfilm after Disney bought the company from founder George Lucas in 2012, and her performance can be described in just six words: She couldn't make money on Star Wars.

Emphasis added. Because HOLY SHI'ITE.

I ran the numbers last year, and this is what I found: "My back-of-the-envelope math indicates that Disney has spent $7.35 billion acquiring and producing Star Wars entertainment and generated $6.41 billion in revenues we can see." Disney+ streaming revenues can't be attributed to any particular show or property, but except for the little-watched Andor and the first two seasons of Mando, Disney's live-action Star Wars TV shows haven't scored well with critics or audiences.

And you can forget about all that fabulous toy revenue. Nine-year-old boys aren't exactly clamoring for Rose Tico or Admiral Holdo action figures.

"If Disney has realized an actual profit on its $4.05 billion Lucasfilm investment, I'd be shocked," I concluded then, and that was before we learned that Kennedy spent nearly a quarter of a billion dollars (!!!) producing and marketing The Acolyte for Disney+.

Steven Green has more, including a run-down of all the cancelled projects and fired directors we saw under the chaotic, emotional rule of Kaffeine Kennedy.

Coincidentally, while I was laid up with a spasming back over the weekend, I watched this video which did not subvert my expectations, because I had been on this train since 2015: It's not that the Star Wars sequels went bad from The Last Jedi. It's not that Rion Johnson took the promising start of The Force Awakens and threw it away for the sake of Subverting Your Expectations and Social Identity Politics.

No, The Force Awakens sucked right out of the gate.

posted by Ace at 05:32 PM

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